The father of the teenage cricketer killed this week after being hit by a ball has broken his silence, saying his son would have wanted his mates to keep playing the game he loved.
Speaking through tears and wearing his son Ben’s cap at Ferntree Gully Cricket Club, Jace Austin placed his son’s cricket gear in the nets where he died on Tuesday.
‘We got his bat, his gloves, my family … just wanted to be where he last stood,’ a tearful Mr Austin said.
‘I thought I would never get back to there, but Benny would have wanted that because he loved the game.
‘This is a great game, cricket, it wasn’t the game’s fault, that was just a freak accident, a freak accident.
‘Please make sure you keep playing this great game, that’s what he would want.’
Jace Austin paid tribute to his son on Friday after he was killed in the nets earlier in the week
Ben Austin would have wanted his mates to continue playing the game he loved
Mr Austin is comforted by a friend on Friday afternoon
The promising young cricketer was hit in the neck by a ball during a training session at Wally Tew Reserve in Melbourne’s southeast on Tuesday before being rushed to hospital in a critical condition.
The 17-year-old was placed on life support but died in Monash Children’s Hospital the following day.
The tragedy follows the death of Test cricketer Phillip Hughes in 2014, who was struck in the neck by a ball while batting in a Sheffield Shield game for South Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
Like many young cricketers, the game was in Ben’s blood after he was first introduced to the sport when his father took him to play ‘little blasters’ with a couple of mates.
‘He used to play Friday night, Saturday afternoon, Sunday. That’s why he had three clubs – he loved it,’ his father said.
Mr Austin said he’d do anything to swap places with his son who had a full life ahead of him.
‘Just to hear Benny’s voice again, I’d do anything, I’d give up everything, I’d swap places with him,’ he said.
‘He loved Shield and Test cricket, and the Vics and Tassie boys doing (a tribute), he would have been stoked, and the fact that I’ve got a smile in this s**t time and it feels bad that I’m smiling, but he would have loved this.
Friends pay tribute to Ben Austin at the nets where he died this week
Ben also had a passion for AFL and enjoyed playing and umpiring
‘And that’s why the game’s beautiful, I think only cricket can do this, honestly.’
As tears rolled out of his eyes, Mr Austin took his son’s cap off his head and touched the emblem.
‘It’s his hat. He only played the three games,’ he said.
Ben was a sports nut who also loved AFL and was keen to run a marathon.
His father said sport would have played a big role in the rest of his life.
‘He wanted to be a boundary umpire, be a PE teacher, and maybe get as high as he could in his cricket or AFL,’ Mr Austin said.
His primary school, Waverley Meadows in Wheelers Hill, where he was school captain in 2020, paid tribute to a ‘kind, respectful, popular and much-loved student’.
‘Our community has lost a truly great young person who was developing into a fine young adult – a true testament to his parents – and his loss will be felt by our school for many years to come,’ the school said.
Aussie cricket great Merv Hughes said Ben’s death would have been felt across the nation.
‘It doesn’t matter what level of cricket you play, there’s always a chance that something like this happens,’ he told reporters.
‘Right across Australia and throughout the world, no doubt people will be thinking of him.’
At Friday night’s T20 match between Australia and India at the MCG, a moment’s silence was observed for Ben as players from both teams and officials wore black armbands.
